Month: June 2018

After the Panthers signed running back C.J. Anderson, Anderson said that he was looking forward to having a great complementary relationship with 2017 first-round pick Christian McCaffrey.

Now, I think if I was approached by the [NFL Players Association] or one of the players who kneel, I would go ahead with the case.At a time when the NFLPA is contemplating which case(s) to go ahead with as it relates to the league’s decision to unilaterally eliminate a right to protest that the league previously had given to the players and confirmed on multiple occasions, maybe the first battle will come within the confines of Beckham’s existing lawsuit.

I’ve been feeling good, but this week was another milestone in the rehab, Cook said. This was a milestone for me just to get back out there and get some things done.

Cook had a tremendously promising start to his rookie season before being lost for the year in a Week 4 loss to Detroit. He rushed for 127 yards in his first game against the New Orleans Saints and combined for 169 yards from scrimmage in a Week 3 victory over Tampa Bay. However, Cook’s knee gave away when he tried to cut away from a closing Lions safety.

The Vikings have been encouraged by Cook’s recovery and expected him to be able to take part in some stuff during OTAs, but getting clearance to return to team work is another good sign.

Last year, the Falcons stood last year on all but one occasion, when two players knelt for one game in response to President Donald Trump calling kneelers sons of bitches. For the other games, Falcons players locked arms in solidarity while the song played. The New York Jets have voiced similar sentiments, but have not announced plans. The team’s owner, Christopher Johnson, has said he will support his players and pay any fines.

On Friday, Edelman issued an apologetic statement on his Instagram page that did not delve into any details about what triggered the suspension.

Jones, 29, is due $10.5 million in base salary this season and $12.5 million in 2019 as part of a five-year, $71.3 million extension with $47 million guaranteed he signed in August 2015. His annual average of $14.3 million currently ranks eighth among NFL wideouts, trailing four players ( Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins, Jarvis Landry and Davante Adams ) who have signed new extensions since late December.

So Wilcox, a 27-year-old safety, is now flying to New Jersey, ready to sign with the Jets.

This is the second consecutive offseason that Wilcox has had an odd switch from one team to another. Last year he signed a two-year, $6.25 million contract with the Buccaneers in the offseason, but he was traded to the Steelers before the start of the regular season. The Steelers cut him in April.

Now Wilcox will sign with the Jets, and perhaps stay there longer than he lasted with the Buccaneers and Steelers — and certainly longer than he lasted with the 49ers.

But again, that doesn’t mean all this offseason drama couldn’t bite them down the line in the playoffs, when the margin for error shrinks. Or with how their young players develop over the next few years. Everything clearly hasn’t been fine with the Patriots over the last year, nor has everything been fixed since the season ended. One thing’s for sure: The next few months won’t be boring.

When Atlanta’s Matt Ryan signed his five-year, $150 million deal in May, the NFL crossed a significant divide in the way its quarterbacks are compensated compared to how everyone else is paid. The $30 million average-per-year barrier was crossed by a quarterback before any other position saw a player hit $20 million APY. That’s one reason why the Raiders and Rams find themselves in a sticky situation with the league’s last two Defensive Players of the Year.

Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, one of the players at the forefront of the league’s social-justice movement, met with reporters on Wednesday, for the first time since the President canceled the team’s visit to the White House.

Jenkins had nothing to say about the situation.

Via Sheil Kapadia of TheAthletic.com, Jenkins instead held up signs with handwritten messages, including one that said, You’re not listening. Other signs contained complaints about the realities of the criminal justice system, which Jenkins has been working hard to reform.

Why does that matter? Because contracts for defensive players haven’t really moved since Suh got paid. Von Miller’s 2016 deal, coming on the franchise tag, was largely the same as Suh’s, and landed at 78 percent of what Andrew Luck was making then. Quarterback contracts, meanwhile, keep moving up. Let’s say, based on those numbers, that Donald and Mack get 80 percent of what the top quarterback is getting.

Given that Owens played for so many teams — and routinely nuked the bridge back to each one — it’s possible that Owens realized during his initial visit to Canton that: (1) Hall of Fame weekend won’t be cheap; and (2) the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, and/or Bengals won’t be chipping in to cover the tab.

If Owens can instead persuade another network to televise an induction party, at which Owens would deliver his speech, the network would foot the bill for the event. And Owens would have a one-man Hall of Fame party that potentially will upstage the official enshrinement of Owens and seven others.

Interestingly enough, it was Bryce Callahan of the Bears who was tied with McCain. Callahan is regarded as one of the better slot corners in football, and his agent will surely take note of McCain’s extension. Callahan is scheduled to become a free agent after the coming season. For McCain, he’s getting a substantial raise after earning only $1,803,288 through the first three years of career, according to Spotrac.

Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson was among the preliminary nominees for this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class, but he didn’t make the cut. One player who did make the cut isn’t happy about that.

Former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who will be enshrined in Canton in August, said that it frustrates him that Woodson has been voted down by the selection committee.

Last year, anthem protests were a toxic subject that dominated the season, as players kneeling, sitting, and raising fists during the national anthem caused fan anger, sponsorship and advertiser fallout, and may have contributed to an overall decline in television ratings.

According to Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com, Cook was cleared to return to team drills on Monday as the Vikings move through their final week of OTAs. He had been limited to individual drills and rehab work up until this point.

Michael Thomas, a safety for the New York Giants who last year knelt during the anthem as a member of the Miami Dolphins, indicated in an NJ.com report that he would discuss what to do in the coming season with teammates, something new head coach Pat Shurmur also indicated would happen. It’s bigger than us,Thomas said. A lot of people try to make it about something else than what it is. For me and my brothers, we know in our hearts why we’re doing it.

The Panthers likely have the same idea, although exactly how that complementary relationship breaks down remains a question that the team has to answer. McCaffrey ran the ball 117 times as a rookie while Jonathan Stewart toted the rock 198 times and head coach Ron Rivera said on Monday that he thinks McCaffrey would be just fine if he wound up around Stewart’s total in 2018.

Everybody forgets when he was in college he ran between the tackles more than anybody and he touched the ball more than anybody, Rivera said, via ESPN.com. So I don’t see why not.

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt received his honorary doctorate degree from Baylor College of Medicine this week. Coach Bill O’Brien was asked Wednesday if Watt would insist on being called Dr. Watt.

He wrote me up a prescription this morning, O’Brien said, via John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. He told me to take three chill pills a day and call him in the morning. I thought I’ve been more chilled out, but I guess he doesn’t think so.

Silver said with more states offering legalized sports gambling, the league wants a piece of the action to offset its additional costs.

One of the issues we had on the table and have been seeking is a so-called ‘integrity fee.’ And the notion of the integrity fee is that, as we’re now dealing potentially with 50 different jurisdictions, all with differing permutations of sports betting law, it’s going to dramatically increase the enforcement cost for the league office, Silver said. So we think the integrity fee is something we’re entitled to because we have the additional cost. Call it a royalty; call it an integrity fee. We will have additional expenses, and it’s ultimately our intellectual property and we ultimately believe we should be compensated for it.

He was on the Bengals’ practice squad during the 2017 regular season.

Orndoff started 23 of 45 career games for the University of Pittsburgh and totaled 58 receptions for 897 yards with 13 touchdowns from 2013-16.

I wouldn’t over-evaluate who is getting the first-team reps, head coach Pat Shurmur said, but I think if you’re talking about Pio specifically, he has really sort of opened his eyes that he has a chance to play.

Mark Ingram wants a new contract, and he’s willing to let his bosses know that. But he’s not going to get fined in the process.

Via Josh Katzenstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Saints coach Sean Payton said that Ingram would be at the team’s mandatory minicamp June 12-14.

Ingram has skipped the rest of the offseason workouts with the team. He’s also been suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s PED policy, so you wouldn’t think he has the best bargaining position.

Everybody switches, so this guy guards that guy, then that guy over there and so on. Love’s initial availability is in question for Cleveland (concussion protocol). Durant, also used all over, is arguably the NBA’s second-best player after LeBron. Durant has made an effort to be a better defender, another headache in his set of spectacular skills. He’s 7 feet, has great ball-handling skills, can stretch the defense or get to the rim. Somewhere, he’ll match up with James. Again, if Durant-James is a push, the Cavs have no chance. Love scores, rebounds, stretches the defense but defensively is wanting.

White added that he’s built Ford tough in response to a question about what he’s learned about himself over the last three years and that anything I want is possible during the 2018 season. That may not be a popular outside opinion given how things have played out, but actions over the months to come will prove much more significant to White’s future than anything that comes out of his mouth.

I believe this is the best opportunity for me moving forward and I’m eager for what the future holds, Manziel said on PFT Live.

Though Manziel said he spoke with multiple NFL teams this offseason, he wasn’t keen on waiting around much longer.

I didn’t want to get into something down the road where I’m waiting until August, waiting until training camps open, and then if something doesn’t transpire I’m getting here late, he said.

Manziel was drafted 22nd overall by Cleveland in 2014. He was cut two years later following a myriad of off-field issues, including substance abuse and a domestic violence incident involving an ex-girlfriend.

The Alliance of American Football is planning to bring professional football back to San Diego with former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz serving as the head coach of the franchise.

According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Martz’s coaching staff will be filled with many prominent names with NFL backgrounds as well.

The Yankees were off on Monday, then their short interleague series in Washington was reduced to a 5 1/2-inning suspended game on Tuesday and a rainout on Wednesday, then Thursday was another off day.

Friday night’s loss was just the Yankees’ fourth in their last 23 games. With Boston losing at home to Baltimore, the Yanks stayed a game up on the Red Sox for first in the AL East.

Nash averaged 12.4 field goal attempts and 4.1 3-point attempts per game during his four seasons with D’Antoni. By contrast, Harden averaged 20.1 field goal attempts and launched 10.0 3s per game this season, when he led the league in scoring with 30.4 points per game.

Marsh added that he felt the Patriots miscast him as a linebacker and all but requested to be cut by the team in November.

I confronted (Bill Belichick) about all the things that were going on, he said. I won’t get into detail, but it was B.S. things they were doing. I just wasn’t a fan. And so I, basically, without asking to get cut, I kind of asked to get cut… I had confidence that I would have an opportunity elsewhere and I would take advantage of it.

Although it’s been impossible to track down any details in the day or so since Geragos said what he said, I get the feeling it’s not Lockhart. I get the feeling it could be someone in even better position to drop the kind of dime that would indeed result in, well, it would be immature to use it a fifth time.

Beyond the fact that he nailed down the $2.275 billion price just before the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates on gambling (possibly resulting in a tremendous spike in franchise values), Tepper will benefit on the back end from a tax law that allows him to essentially drive down the practical cost of the transaction by many millions of dollars.

As explained by Katherine Peralta of the Charlotte Observer, Tepper will be able to write off roughly $120 million per year for the next 15 years. A tax expert explained to Peralta that the law makes the effective price of the franchise roughly $1.7 billion.

Not the wrong lane of the Lincoln Tunnel specifically, but the greater issue he was dealing with.

The Jaguars tight end and former Jet has tried to help Donahue, after the Jets linebacker checked himself into rehab following a wrong-way crash into a bus.

The most important thing I want to resonate with him is truly finding what’s the underlying issue. Because it’s not necessarily just alcohol. Can he find it? Can he tame it? Nobody’s perfect. It’s not an easy road by any means. But I wanted to make sure that he finds that happiness without a substance. I just really was worried about him. First of all, I just wanted to make sure that he was good as a person and can find himself. Because he’s a really cool dude. He’s a special guy.

Donahue actually had another drunk driving arrest before the tunnel incident, but the Jets stood by the 2017 fifth-rounder, who played in just four games last year before an elbow injury ended his season.

Seferian-Jenkins stood by him too, and that support may make a huge difference.

As noted on Thursday by LawAndCrime.com, attorney Mark Geragos suggested in a Thursday tweet that efforts of the top two members of the executive branch to pressure the NFL to force players to stand for the anthem potentially run afoul of Title 18, Section 227 of the United States Code. A violation of 18 U.S.C. 227 arises if the President and/or the Vice President intended to influence, solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation, an employment decision or employment practice of any private entity and influence[d], or offers or threatens to influence, the official act of another.

A clear example of a prohibited action under 18 U.S.C. 227 would arise if, for example, the President pressures a news outlet to fire a reporter who asks too many tough questions, under threat of revoking access. While more murky as it relates to the NFL, it seems fairly clear that the President and/or the Vice President have pressured (successfully) the NFL to remove the pre-existing right of its players to protest during the national anthem.

It feels too simple to be applicable, but the language is as plain as it can be. And the punishment feels too harsh, with imprisonment of up to 15 years and potential disqualification from holding office.